Winemaker's Notes:

Chianti Classico Tenuta Sant'Alfonso is one of the winery's most well-established wines and one of the two prestigious crus produced today with 100% Sangiovese grapes cultivated exclusively on the Sant'Alfonso estate. Based on the studies and experiments conducted in the vineyard, it emerged that the most clay-rich and least gravelly soils of this estate, combined with the use of specific clones of Sangiovese, caused the grapes to develop and mature with a higher concentration of polyphenols and aromatic substances.

The result is this opulent, juicy Chianti Classico, which is awash with fruity overtones of amarena cherries and blackberries, as well as spicy notes of licorice and coffee. It also boasts a well-balanced, pleasant structure on the palate.

My Notes:

About Rocca delle Macie:

When the late Italo Zingarelli, a former boxer and film producer, bought Rocca delle Macìe in Tuscany's Chianti Classico district back in 1973, he embarked on a new career as one of Tuscany's more unlikely wine producers.

It was certainly not intended to be a hobby... it was a vocation, a desire to return to the soil." Zingarelli, who passed away in the spring of 2000, was always quick to point out.

Working closely with his son Sergio, Zingarelli set about restoring the property that Sergio together with his wife Daniela, who plays an active role in the day-to-day management of the estate, and their two children now call home. Then a tumbled down 14th-century farmstead near the village of Castellina in Chianti, it was surrounded by acres of neglected vines. Vineyards were replanted from scratch; further property, was acquired, and a state-of-the-art cellar built and installed with the latest winemaking equipment. The Zingarellis left nothing to chance in their quest to create a stellar Tuscan wine estate.

Organic fertilization, careful pruning, the introduction of small oak barrels for aging and harvesting by hand are just some of the practices Sergio and his father instituted at the estate. Rocca is an active member of the Chianti Classico growers' consortium, which takes the black rooster as its symbol.